Ron Boire Out At Barnes & Noble

Longtime CE industry and retail exec Ron Boire has stepped down as Barnes & Noble’s CEO after 13 months on the job.

In a terse statement, the No. 1 bookstore and Nook e-reader seller said its board of directors “determined that Mr. Boire was not a good fit for the organization and that it was in the best interests of all parties for him to leave.”

In the interim, executive chairman Leonard Riggio will delay his scheduled Sept. 14 retirement to assume Boire’s duties along with senior managers while the company searches for a successor.

Boire has an extensive resume covering the CE and retail trades. Prior to joining Barnes & Noble he was president/CEO of Sears Canada, and before that was chief merchandising officer and president of Sears and Kmart Formats at Sears Holdings.

Boire joined Best Buy from Sony Electronics, where he spent 17 years in various roles including president of Sony’s personal mobile products company. He was also president of the Sony consumer sales company responsible for sales and distribution in the U.S.

Barnes & Noble reported a net loss of $30.6 million for its most recent quarter, ended April 30, while net sales declined 3.7 percent to $877 million and retail comp sales slipped 0.8 percent.